IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/rbs/ijbrss/v14y2025i9p428-438.html

Barriers to effective cognitive development in early childhood education in the rural outskirts of Alice

Author

Listed:
  • Sibongile Dayimani

    (University of Fort Hare)

  • Sonti Zelma Mokobane

    (University of Fort Hare)

Abstract

A responsible parent-child relationship and parental support for learning early in life are crucial to promoting ECD. Many families live in neglected childcare areas, and even when programmes are available, quality is not regulated or supported, which is beyond the reach of most families. There is substantial evidence linking ECD staff training and qualifications with programme quality and children’s cognitive results. Research activities included a case study of three selected rural ECD centres based in the Eastern Cape. Direct observations and additional data were used in individual interviews to obtain data from practitioners. Content analysis was used to analyze the data. The following themes emanated from the results; namely, lack of communication; lack of government involvement; lack of parental involvement; lack of resources; lack of relevant practitioner qualifications; and the absence of an adequate curriculum were conceded. All of these have had their fair share of influence on the negative implementation of quality ECD education and the cognitive development of children. In conclusion, the study established that the ECD sector needs to become urgently professionalized if children's right to a good foundational education is to be preserved and supported. The findings of the study highlighted the importance of broadening perspectives on transitions that children will experience to develop integrated and contextualized classrooms that are child focused. Key Words:Challenges; Cognitive development; Implementation; Practitioners; Programmes

Suggested Citation

  • Sibongile Dayimani & Sonti Zelma Mokobane, 2025. "Barriers to effective cognitive development in early childhood education in the rural outskirts of Alice," International Journal of Research in Business and Social Science (2147-4478), Center for the Strategic Studies in Business and Finance, vol. 14(9), pages 428-438, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:rbs:ijbrss:v:14:y:2025:i:9:p:428-438
    DOI: 10.20525/ijrbs.v14i9.4462
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://ssbfnet.com/ojs/index.php/ijrbs/article/view/4462
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://doi.org/10.20525/ijrbs.v14i9.4462
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.20525/ijrbs.v14i9.4462?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Greg Duncan & Ariel Kalil & Magne Mogstad & Mari Rege, 2022. "Investing in Early Childhood Development in Preschool and at Home," NBER Working Papers 29985, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. Grace Leach & Dieter von Fintel, 2025. "Supporting Early Childhood Development through Multi-dimensional Service Delivery in South Africa," Child Indicators Research, Springer;The International Society of Child Indicators (ISCI), vol. 18(3), pages 1101-1159, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Daniela Del Boca & Chiara Monfardini & Sarah Grace See, 2022. "Early Childcare Duration and Student' Later Outcomes in Europe," Working Papers 2022-021, Human Capital and Economic Opportunity Working Group.
    2. Mikko Silliman & Juuso Mäkinen, 2026. "Life-cycle effects of public childcare: Evidence on children and their parents," RFBerlin Discussion Paper Series 26004, ROCKWOOL Foundation Berlin (RFBerlin).
    3. Natasha V. Pilkauskas & Katherine Michelmore, 2023. "Who’s Caring for the Kids? The Earned Income Tax Credit and Childcare Arrangements," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 706(1), pages 37-64, March.
    4. Jorge Luis García & James J. Heckman, 2023. "Parenting Promotes Social Mobility Within and Across Generations," Annual Review of Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 15(1), pages 349-388, September.
    5. Hall, Caroline & Lindahl, Erica & Roman, Sara, 2024. "Increased flexibility in childcare arrangements: impacts on parents’ careers and children’s school performance," Working Paper Series 2024:23, IFAU - Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy.
    6. Yang, Hyunwoo & Rao, Nirmala, 2025. "Early childhood care and education and child development: Variation within and between 60 low- and middle-income countries," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 119(C).
    7. Krueger, Dirk & Ludwig, Alexander & Popova, Irina, 2025. "Shaping inequality and intergenerational persistence of poverty: Free college or better schools?," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 150(C).
    8. Dirk Krueger & Alexander Ludwig & Irina Popova, 2024. "Shaping Inequality and Intergenerational Persistence of Poverty: Free College or Better Schools," NBER Working Papers 32467, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    9. Mette Goertz & Vibeke Myrup Jensen & Sarah Sander, 2023. "Daycare Enrollment Age and Child Development," CEBI working paper series 22-26, University of Copenhagen. Department of Economics. The Center for Economic Behavior and Inequality (CEBI).
    10. repec:rbs:ijbrss:v:14:y:2026:i:9:p:428-438 is not listed on IDEAS
    11. Michele Giannola, 2024. "Parental Investments and Intra-household Inequality in Child Human Capital: Evidence from a Survey Experiment," The Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 134(658), pages 671-727.
    12. Katharina Spieß C., 2025. "Förderung der frühen Bildung auch in alternden Gesellschaften: Warum es ein Bundesprogramm für Kitas braucht," Wirtschaftsdienst, Sciendo, vol. 105(2), pages 84-89.
    13. Dirk Krueger & Alexander Ludwig & Irina Popova, 2024. "Shaping Inequality and Intergenerational Persistence of Poverty: Free College or Better Schools," PIER Working Paper Archive 24-023, Penn Institute for Economic Research, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:rbs:ijbrss:v:14:y:2025:i:9:p:428-438. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Umit Hacioglu (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/ssbffea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.